oracles









oracles


noun

  1. (especially in ancient Greece) an utterance, often ambiguous or obscure, given by a priest or priestess at a shrine as the response of a god to an inquiry.
  2. the agency or medium giving such responses.
  3. a shrine or place at which such responses were given: the oracle of Apollo at Delphi.
  4. a person who delivers authoritative, wise, or highly regarded and influential pronouncements.
  5. a divine communication or revelation.
  6. any person or thing serving as an agency of divine communication.
  7. any utterance made or received as authoritative, extremely wise, or infallible.
  8. oracles, the Scriptures.
  9. the holy of holies of the Temple built by Solomon in Jerusalem. I Kings 6:16, 19–23.

pl n

  1. another term for Scripture (def. 1)

noun

  1. a prophecy, often obscure or allegorical, revealed through the medium of a priest or priestess at the shrine of a god
  2. a shrine at which an oracular god is consulted
  3. an agency through which a prophecy is transmitted
  4. any person or thing believed to indicate future action with infallible authority
  5. a statement believed to be infallible and authoritative
  6. Bible
    1. a message from God
    2. the holy of holies in the Israelite temple

n.late 14c., “a message from a god, expressed by divine inspiration,” from Old French oracle “temple, house of prayer; oracle” (12c.) and directly from Latin oraculum “divine announcement, oracle; place where oracles are given,” from orare “pray, plead” (see orator), with material instrumental suffix -culo-. In antiquity, “the agency or medium of a god,” also “the place where such divine utterances were given.” This sense is attested in English from c.1400.

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